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OFFICE OF CULTURE Letter from the Mayor 02 Contents Letter from Randy Engstrom and Michael Seiwerath 04 Creative | Youth 08 Creative | Community 14 Creative | Space 24 Staff 35 Seattle Arts Commission 36 Financials 38 Contact Us 41 I want Seattle to become one of the best arts cities in the world. —Mayor Ed Murray As Mayor, I am committed to helping Seattle to become one of the best arts cities in the world. Our city is already one of the most vibrant and creative in the nation. People are drawn to Seattle’s thriving arts and music scenes and the rich diver- sity of its communities. Businesses are attracted to Seattle because we are an international cultural hub. We understand both the real human value of art and its economic potential. Here in Seattle, we make the arts a priority. Last year, the City invested almost $2.5 million in the arts. We funded more than 300 different arts and cultural organizations and artists that reached over 1.5 million people. This year our support for the arts is growing. With support from City Council, we have added $150,000 for our Arts Mean Business program, which underwrites jobs for cultural organizations serving historically under-represented communities. And as part of the Creative Advantage program, we are investing $500,000 to bring arts education back to the classroom. These investments in the arts improve educational opportunity and achievement, foster economic development, and contrib- ute to our ongoing pursuits of social and economic justice. Thank you for supporting our city with your time, energy and vision. 2013 was a great year for the arts in Seattle. Together, we can make 2014 even better. Sincerely, Edward Murray Mayor of Seattle 3 Investment in the arts is an investment in our city. —Randy Engstrom What a year! 2013 started out as a year of possibility and the Offi ce of Arts & Culture grabbed a number of those opportunities and turned them into advances for the arts in Seattle. Our offi ce grew in size and scope and now offers more programs, more prospects, and more engagement than in years past. In January, the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute (LHPAI) was transferred from Seattle Parks and Recreation to the Offi ce of Arts & Culture. The addition of LHPAI as a program of the Offi ce of Arts & Culture aligns with the Offi ce’s mission. It’s a strong working relationship for both organizations and we’re happy to welcome LHPAI to our team. The Offi ce of Arts & Culture has been working on the issue of cultural space for many years, and in May we added a staff position to support this work day-to-day. Our new cultural space liaison, Matthew Richter, is currently working on a new space fi nder tool that will connect artists and arts organizations to spaces for development, rehearsal, or presentation of their work. He also presented Square Feet 2013, an event for the cultural community to gather and talk through pressing issues. We also added staff capacity in the area of arts education: Lara Davis joined the offi ce in the summer as an arts education specialist. Lara is managing Seattle’s city-wide K-12 arts plan, The Creative Advantage, a comprehensive strategy for closing the access gap in arts learning. Given our offi ce’s values, Lara’s experience with race and social justice training is a special asset in ensuring that tenet is a thread through all of our work. 5 Along with these new initiatives, our established programs also achieved powerful results in 2013. We celebrated the 40th anniversary of the public art program, which has added more than 400 permanently sited works to our public spaces since its inception, and rotates nearly 3,000 portable works throughout city buildings. Seattle is host to one of the fi rst programs of this kind in the country, and we’re pleased that our city continues to innovate in this fi eld, as evidenced by the two Americans for the Arts’ Year in Review awards we received in 2013. Additionally, we maintained our historic funding programs, which this year supported more than 325 cultural organizations and artists, who in turn enriched the lives of residents and visitors with opportunities ranging from neighborhood festivals to dramatic performances to arts training for youth. It really was a whirlwind year of accomplishment and progress. We’re very proud of what we achieved – and we’re looking forward to another robust year of activity and possibility in 2014. Our Best, Randy Engstrom, director Offi ce of Arts & Culture Michael Seiwerath, chair Seattle Arts Commission 6 Drop-in breakdancing classes at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute provide an YOUTH out-of-school creative outlet for students of all ages. Photo: Geri Watkins. | CREATIVE CREATIVE Arts education now Innovative minds tomorrow A young painter explores self-expression through Pratt Fine Arts Center’s free Sunday experiential arts classes for youth ages 5 to 13. Pratt is a Youth Arts grant recipient. Photo: Myra Kaha. ART HAS THE CAPACITY to change the way we understand ourselves and the people around us; art expands perspectives and leads the way to a richer appreciation of our community and our place. In order to give young people the tools they need to succeed in school, life, and our city, we must invest in their creativity. We do this by ensuring that arts opportunities will be available to every student at every school in Seattle through our arts education initiative, The Creative Advantage. We also invest in arts training outside the classroom, both during the school year and in the summer, through the Youth Arts and Work Readiness Arts Program (WRAP) grant programs. Inclusiveness is at the heart of the Offi ce’s youth development programs; we must ensure these fundamental opportunities are accessible to everybody as a matter of equity. Investing in our youth is an investment in Seattle’s future. The Creative Advantage is reinvesting in Seattle’s students and our economic and creative future by addressing inequities in arts access and restoring arts education to all Seattle classrooms. By 2020 all Seattle students will have access to a continuum of arts classes, from two hours of visual arts and music per week for our youngest learners, to media arts courses at the middle school level, to career connections in high school. In 2013 we offi cially launched The Creative Advantage at Bumbershoot with a video created by Reel Grrls, and invested in instruments and materials for the 11 1 2 3 initiation of six new K-2 music programs in the Central Area. In addition, a number of The LHPAI Quare Program gives voice to LGBTQ youth of color as emerging artists Seattle Public Schools arts specialists have participated in training on 21st Century and culture makers by supporting productions, performances and artistic opportunities Skills assessment provided by Arts Corps and the district. Image 1: Seattle Schools for LGBTQ youth and allies. Annual Quare programs include Voices Rising, Mangos Superintendent José Banda watches as students at John Muir Elementary School with Chili tour, Quare Youth Mentorship project and theater production, and annual engage with an art lesson. Photo: Robert Teodosio, Seattle Schools. African American Film Festival opportunities. connections. Quare projects assure that a broader segment of youth is seen, and given creative space and sustainable The Work Readiness Arts Program (WRAP) launched in 2013, funding nine opportunities. organizations providing out-of-school programming that links arts learning and work experiences for Seattle youth ages 14 to 18. The program provided over 900 hours of Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute’s Artist Incubation program brings a instruction for nearly 80 youth through paid training opportunities with teaching artists. nascent cultural organization into LHPAI’s facility for a year-long cultivation and devel- Youth gained skills in digital media, design, building, photography, journalism and visual opment. 2013’s Artist Incubation program was Freshest Roots, a local organization and public art. The program is a partnership with Seattle Youth Violence Prevention established to connect the community and youth through music, art and fashion. The Initiative. Image 2: WRAP grant recipient Totem Star’s youth participants booked, program resulted in a monthly open mic night, among other events. planned, promoted and produced their fi rst community arts and music showcase and open mic at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. Photo: Jenny Crooks. Youth Arts funds teaching artists and organizations providing out-of-school arts training. In 2013, Youth Arts awarded just over $175,000 to 32 organizations and individuals, including Stephanie Guerra, who led creative writing exercises with 40 middle– and high–school youth from King County Juvenile Detention. Image 3: Guerra designed short-term, stand-alone lessons utilizing visual and liter- ary prompts and team-generated pieces as springboards to process and express powerful and deep experiences via testimonials in a supportive environment. Photo: Chris Taylor. Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute trains youth ages 6 to 12 and 13 to 19 in the Pre-Teen and Teen Summer Academies. In 2013 80 youth participated, and presented “Keys to Fame,” which took on the universal theme of pursuing a dream, and “Keeper of the Flame,” a coming of age story. 12 13 COMMUNITY | In 2013, we invested $2.6 million in 328 organizations and artists to support almost 4,600 performances, events and exhibit days ultimately serving an CREATIVE CREATIVE audience of almost 1.6 million participants. CityArtist Jody Kuehner presented a new ensemble drag dance—comedy inspired by the idea of small town fame featuring performers Cherdonna and Lou.